1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device to prevent or discourage the theft of trailers which are towed by trucks or automobiles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a leg or jack that is placed on the periphery of the trailer to retard the withdrawal of the trailer from where it has been parked.
2. Prior Art
There are numerous devices which purport to prevent or mitigate the theft of trailers. A preliminary search was conducted on the present invention and the following references were uncovered in the search;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,631 to Schwaiger, while generally relevant, does not disclose a pipe going through a bracket on the side of the trailer. Schwaiger does disclose a vertical leg 8 which fits into a specially designed trapezoidal member which in the end view of FIG. 2 appears as a U-Shaped member 12 attached to the underside of the trailer. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and described on Page 2, the upper end of the leg is locked by means of a padlock 20 using a somewhat complicated box structure. The purpose of this device is to prevent the theft of the trailer using a different and more costly arrangement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,969 to Broughton shows a releaseable locking device which does not extend through a bracket on the side of the trailer but, rather, attaches to a draw bar 16 which is, in turn, attached to the trailer by means of a coupling 17 as shown in FIG. 2. The post 10 is provided with a plurality of holes 13 through which a pin 21 is adapted to project and through holes 35 on opposite sides of a saddle 28. The end of the pin 21 is provided with a flattened portion 24 and a hole or bore 25 through the flattened position. As described in relation to FIGS. 5 and 6, a locking mechanism operated by means of a key (not shown) is adapted to go through the hole 25 in the pin and thereby lock the leg in a the vertical position.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,836,173 to Schwaiger shows a pair of legs which are used to hold the trailer in an elevated position. The trailer is a closed device and therefore the only way anyone can get access to the tops of the legs is by getting inside the trailer. Therefore, if the trailer is locked, the thief will have to break into the trailer before attempting to move the legs.
The remaining references, referred to on Page 1, which are not specifically discussed are not considered to warrant any comment.
The present invention relates to an anti theft device which involves a pipe and a bracket on the side of a trailer. The pipe is of sufficient length, when vertical, to hold the trailer slightly above the ground and slightly higher than the trailer would be if the pipe had not been attached. The pipe which constitutes a leg is flattened at the upper end so that it will fit into the bracket.
In one form of the present invention, the bracket is a rectangular bracket with a rectangular opening and the upper flattened end of the leg or pipe projects upwardly through the rectangular opening in the rectangular bracket and the projecting portion is provided with a pair of holes in which a padlock can be received. With the padlock in place the leg cannot be removed from the bracket and thus, this constitutes an anti theft device in that anyone wishing to quickly steal the trailer would be prevented from doing so. First of all, the bottom of the leg is going to drag on the ground. Secondly, the thief is going to make some noise and disturbance so that it would be inconvenient for him to make a quick get away with the trailer.
Another form of the invention involves a bracket which is opened at one side end. This can be accomplished by taking one of the normal brackets that exists on the side of a trailer and removing the rear end portion. The leg or pipe, as before, will have a flattened end which is adapted to be received in this bracket which is essentially a C-bracket with the opening of the xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d facing towards the rear. The upper end of the pipe, in this case, however, is pivotally mounted in the bracket by means of a pivot pin or bolt. Also the upper flattened end of the pipe will be cut off at a slant so that it can freely pivot from its vertical position to a horizontal storage position along the side of the trailer. The closed side of the bracket; i.e. the side of the bracket which is opposite from the open side, is provided with a pair of vertically extending parallel ears which project horizontally out from the bracket. These ears are provided with aligned holes. Similarly, the pipe is provided with a tab which projects horizontally between the two ears when the pipe is in the vertical position. The tab has a hole in it in alignment with the two holes in the two ears such that a padlock can be placed through these three aligned holes to secure the second modification of the pipe in the vertical position. For storage purposes, with respect to the second embodiment, a pin is provided to simply pass through the hole in the tab and another hole in the side of the trailer to hold the leg in a horizontal position.